OnStar Digital Upgrade

[Cajonkev]

Originally Posted by antddaddy

The real question is...Does the Voice recognition system work better now?

I almost...almost mind you wish I could laugh about this but it is of course "not funny". Nothing at all about/against antdaddy as this has been posed many times by many people.

But perhaps we will be able to settle it at least for the moment with ewill3rd's asistance.

For me the real question is? - Are we talking about the STS VR System, or the OnStar VR System?

The VCM replacement that is accomplished per the TSB for the OnStar upgrade is NOT the same module as that which controls the vehicle VR System. These are two different beasts with two seperate issues. Yes they share the same mirror/microphone but the actual logic resides elsewhere. At least that is what three seperate Service Managers plus Cadillac CSC repeatedly tells me.

Now granted I have not gone through the Service Manual(s) nor had someone from Tech Services explained the detailed linear path the VR system takes but it does make sense. The command prompts and responces are completely different for each system (STS vs. OnStar).

So again no offense to anyone but as I keep trying to get info from GM on the VR system it seems to get muddied up a bit everytime the OnStar upgrade is mentioned and folks start asking about "VR" without being system specific.

So hopefully the upgrade "does" help those with OnStar VR recognition issues.

And...

Hopefully provides a seperate fix for the vehicle VR issues that have plagued so many...

Of course like everyone else I'm interested in hearing how this upgrade goes as well...

[ewill3rd]

Let me check some information because I think (and I use that term loosely) that somehow the navigation VR actually does use the OnStar VR in concert with the logic in the nav unit.
I was noticing this because of some schematics I saw on DTS because I had some really freaky problems with the Amplifier. Long story... anyway, let me research this.

For the record, I use the term VR for both systems even though they seem different. I guess I should ask if you guys want to know about the nav VR features or the OnStar VR.

[ewill3rd]

I can't find anything in print but I'll tell you what I see based on the schematics.
There is one microphone in the car, it's tied into the VCIM (on an '06 DTS) and the VCIM takes your voice signal, interprets it and sends it along some wires to the Navigation radio, the radio then uses that signal as a controlling input. It makes sense to me actually that they might do it this way because otherwise they would have to have TWO sets of voice recognition hardware/software setups. This way they can use one box to handle speech recognition for two systems.

Oh and it appears to be the same for the new STS as well.

[Cajonkev]

Originally Posted by ewill3rd

For the record, I use the term VR for both systems even though they seem different. I guess I should ask if you guys want to know about the nav VR features or the OnStar VR.

Thanks for looking into some more for everyone's sake.

I think the simple answer is we want to know about "both". There are some folks that use OnStar extensively and have posted threads on recognition problems especially when Digit Dialing. There is another group "including myself" that do not have need for the OnStar features but would really like to use the vehicle VR for Nav/Radio functions (forgetting the climate control and other features like windows that it is also linked to). And finally there is "everyone" who would like to see both work as advertised/designed.

Now I can certainly believe that the VCIM may be responcible for decoding spoken commands and sending them to both systems. Why have a redundant system if one will do? However there really is conflicting info out there and I am sure there are at least a few of us that would just like to know what if anything is in progress.

Regardless, thanks again and we'll look forward to whatever comes of it...

[Cajonkev]

Originally Posted by ewill3rd

This way they can use one box to handle speech recognition for two systems.

\

LOL, dueling keyboards...

Yes it does make sense but then do you see where it is broken out to the OnStar portion of the system? And am I assuming correctly that both vehicles use the same overall NAV/Radio/Climate even though the hardware chassis may be different?

The other thought that has been lingering is how much of the issues are related to decoding the spoken commands versus the logic itself? Depending on the programming this could be one or potentially two different/related issues. Is the VCIM not recognizing/decoding the commands or is the logic not managing the VCIM data properly. For one thing the vehicle is programmed to respond to many more commands than just what the OnStar system always has so at some point the VCIM's would have had to have been upgraded. Alas only GM can say what they have/are isolated and I guess the answer will come either through these upgrades or as yet released info still to come.

As an afterthought, I did hear something sometime back that the VR commands for the vehicle actually reside on the DVD Nav disk and are not in the module programming itself. Decoding still has to take place to the universal form and then compared. That was six months ago as I recall though so I am not entirely sure.

[ewill3rd]

I know GM is working on VR technology all the time, at least they say they are. I think VR technology overall is really complicated. As a person who's been through 49 states of this country and lived in 20 places I have heard many variants of the English language. It's amazing to me that we can even understand eachother at times. I can only imagine the task of teaching a computer to understand it as well. I am sure to the engineer(s) that designed their VR software thinks it's a masterpiece of programming. However in real world it might fall short of what they think it to be. Frustration would be the natural byproduct of this and I totally understand where all of you are coming from. My problem is that I am stuck between the General, and the General Public! I can't re-engineer what they have done, only try to make it work better for you or help you make work better for yourself. Sometimes I feel like a negotiator.
Actually now that I read some more it looks like maybe the VCIM just passes the microphone signal right to the radio, the radio then compares the voice signal to stored voice commands that are on the nav disk. I saw a document that says something to that effect. Hmmm...
I got to get some sleep, busy day tomorrow.

[Cajonkev]

Thanks for the diagram and all the info ewill3rd!

[transylvania]

It is indeed confusing talking about the two VR systems but the easiest way to separate them is to see when the VR is invoked:

1. When you press the OnStar button you are connected to the OnStar computers and they perform any VR. The microphone in the STS is merely passing the audio to the phone.

2. When you press the steering wheel VR button, you are talking only to the STS computer. The audio from the microphone in the STS is routed to the Nav system computer which performs the VR.

I am interested in the upgrade for VR system #2 above.

[Cajonkev]

Originally Posted by transylvania

1. When you press the OnStar button you are connected to the OnStar computers and they perform any VR. The microphone in the STS is merely passing the audio to the phone.

We are definetely all agreed that it is rather confusing!...

As point of clarification however when you initially press the OnStar "phone" button you are speaking to the in-vehicle VCIM module. Voice commands are only routed to the OnStar computers once the connection is made.

This much is at least oulined in the OnStar literature you receive with the vehicle and completely makes sense as they cannot decode commands if there is no connection.

By way of example:

Press the OnStar "phone" button on the rearview mirror.
Listen for the "OnStar Ready" voice prompt.
Say, "Virtual Advisor".
System will reply "Connecting to Virtual Advisor"...

This command was performed by the VCIM module. Once the connection is made only then are you now directly commanding the OnStar remote system.

When pressing the Blue OnStar button of course you are automatically making the connection to a SA and no voice commanding is initially neccessary.

[Fred_Mac]

Well, I had the digital upgrade done yesterday and spent most of the day today in the car. The verdict? No noticeable difference in VR performance.